


Who Are You

by ateezinutopia



Series: Spooky Season Fics [1]
Category: ATEEZ (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Werewolf, Angst, Halloween, Sirens, Suspense, Vampires
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-04
Updated: 2019-11-04
Packaged: 2021-01-23 02:57:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,679
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21313048
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ateezinutopia/pseuds/ateezinutopia
Summary: A collection of fics for spooky season with multiple genres and varying word counts. Warnings will be in the notes at the beginning of each story :)
Relationships: Choi Jongho/Reader
Series: Spooky Season Fics [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1536463
Comments: 1
Kudos: 7





	Who Are You

**Author's Note:**

> Shapeshifter!Jongho  
Warnings: description of panic

When you first befriended Jongho, you didn’t think much of the friendship. He was the cute, athletic boy in your class and the two of you bonded over your hatred for the subject. You two began studying together which lead to hanging out on weekends and after classes, sometimes even spending the night at each other’s dorms if it got late. Before you knew it the two of you were practically inseparable. 

This is why you’re absolutely stunned as your best friend stands before you confessing his feelings to you. He finishes his confession and you stare at him wide-eyed and speechless, completely caught off guard.

How did you not notice? Were there signs or was he really good at hiding it? There must have been signs if he’s confessing to your face right now.

Your thoughts whirl through your mind faster than you can process them and you can feel his gaze piercing your skin, the air filling with tension the longer you remain silent. You let out a shaky breath and begin instinctively playing with the necklace he got you, a tell-tale sign that you’re nervous.

Jongho’s eyes watch you carefully and as you finally meet his gaze you can already see his heart breaking. “Jongho…” You move to reach for his hand but he steps back, your hand falling to your side. 

You try to ignore the pain in your chest because you know that he’s feeling twice the pain you are. “It’s ok, I knew this was a risk and I chose to take it. Don’t feel bad.”

"Wait, please listen to me. Give me a chance to explain.”

“No, no there’s nothing to explain. You don’t have to explain yourself.” He gives you a stiff smile, turning to leave, but you catch his hand this time, squeezing hard enough to make him freeze. 

“Please. Please, give me a chance to speak. Please, don’t walk away like this. I don’t want you to leave this conversation upset.”

“I’m fine, don’t worry about me. I’m a big boy and I can handle myself.” He uses his other hand to pry your fingers off of him and he gives you one last tense smile before turning his back to you and walking away.

You remain frozen in your spot, watching his form until he is no longer visible, and even then you stare at the spot he once was, wishing it could have gone differently. You don’t even know how you feel. You were always under the impression that the two of you were only friends and nothing more, so how were you supposed to react? 

The shock of his confession keeps the adrenaline running through your veins as you continue staring at nothing, hoping he’ll come back to talk. But after a few minutes of standing alone, realization sets in that he really walked away after confessing to you and your body goes into a slight panic. 

He can’t just leave like that. He can’t walk away while he’s in pain. You don’t want him to deal with this alone.

With that thought, you immediately spring into action, your feet carrying you to the one place you know he’ll be. He has a place that he goes to when he needs to be alone that no one else knows about - you’re not even technically supposed to know about it, but you saw him there one time by chance and never said anything. You feel bad, knowing that you’re consciously invading his privacy, but you want to fix this before he has time to dwell on it too long.

The walk to the pond across town is long and seemingly endless, but the adrenaline pumping through your veins keeps you moving forward. Your mind is re-playing all possible scenarios that would hint at the feelings he has for you, but nothing sticks out, he’s always treated you the same. But that thought rings another alarm in your head - he’s had feelings for you the entire time. Your heart breaks again at the thought of him struggling with his feelings alone for so long.

A small breeze grazes your skin and goosebumps pop up on your arms, reminding you once again that you should have brought a jacket today. Jongho even texted you to bring one because he knew it would be cold. You realize that he does little things for you all the time and you never noticed. He looks after you as often as he can, remembering little details and taking care of you in any way he knows he can. 

You stop walking for a moment when you notice you’ve entered the park, covering your face with your hands and letting out a long, drawn-out sigh. The signs have been there all along; he’s had feelings for you from the beginning and you were oblivious. You thought he was just being friendly and so were you, but now he might think that you were leading him on. 

The thought makes you want to cry as you remove your hands, turning your head to assess your surroundings. The pond is off to the far left, isolated from the rest of the park, and almost always abandoned because no one ventures that far to see it. No one, except Jongho. 

You begin to slow your pace until your footsteps can no longer be heard. The only noises audible are the sounds of children laughing in the distance and wind whistling past your ears. The path to the pond has been neglected for years, obvious in the way that the plants have become overgrown and the grass has covered the stone path that runs through the trees. It’s sad to think that a place so beautiful is now abandoned because they decided to build playgrounds on the other side of the park; sad to think that no one appreciates the nature that is right in front of them. No one, except Jongho.

Your thoughts slow to a stop as you reach the end of the path, admiring the view of the large clearing and how beautiful the water looks with rays of sun shining down on it. You take a deep breath, enjoying the fresh air, but quickly realizing that Jongho is nowhere to be seen. There is no sign of your best friend anywhere and you begin to feel dejected as you realize you have no idea where he could be. 

You walk toward the pond, dragging your feet through the grass and racking your brain for any ideas of where Jongho could be. If he’s not here where else would he feel comfortable escaping to? You would call him, but you know he doesn’t like to talk when he’s upset which makes you question what you’re doing here in the first place.

What would you do? What would you say to him? You’re not even sure you can fix this because you can’t give him the answer he wants… at least not right now. 

Suddenly a head pops up in the middle of the pond, spitting water out and swimming to the edge. Their hair covers their face and you watch as they push it back, revealing the side profile of your friend in question. Your mouth falls open at his presence and your first thought is - how long was he underwater?

You’ve been here for at least a couple of minutes and he never came up for air. Then you notice the pile of clothes beside the pond where he stops at and before your mind can fully process what he’s doing, Jongho pulls himself from the water, now standing completely naked beside the pond.

You gasp, quickly covering your eyes and stumbling backward. Luckily his back is to you, so all you could see was his backside, which you’ve seen on one other occasion when he ripped his pants and underwear trying to do a high kick.

He’s unaware of your presence, making you feel weird and creepy, like some sort of peeping Tom, though this is all by accident. You manage to recover from some of the shock and when you’re brain starts functioning again you come back around to your original question of how he was holding his breath so long.

You risk a glance between your fingers, but you drop your hands when you realize there’s a dog standing where Jongho was not even a minute ago. The logical part of your brain is screaming because it can’t understand a single thing that’s happening, but the rest of your brain is frozen as you stare at the dog slack-jawed and utterly confused. 

The dog shakes himself, spraying water droplets in all directions, his tail wagging as he does so. Your thoughts bounce between the confusion of where the dog came from and where Jongho disappeared to and admiring how cute the dog is. But before you have too much time to dwell on the thoughts, the dog becomes misformed, stretching until it becomes the size of a man; not just any man… your best friend.

The world around you darkens until you have tunnel vision on the naked form of your best friend who stands beside the pond where the dog was just standing. Where he was just standing? Your mind becomes fuzzy as you begin feeling light-headed. What just happened? 

The sky starts moving, but when your back hits the ground, momentarily knocking the wind out of you, you realize you’ve fallen backward. Your head rolls from side to side, your mind struggling to grasp any form of reality as your breathing becomes more and more shallow and it feels like someone is sitting on your chest, not allowing you to breathe. 

Time seems to stop as you drift in and out of reality; it feels like your brain is short-circuiting and you can’t tell what’s real. A shadow looms over you, but your eyes are unfocused and hazy. The shadow starts talking to you as its hands reach out to grab your face, moving your head side to side. The hand begins tapping your face and each tap helps bring you back to reality, the world around you falling into place. 

You grasp the hands in your own, looking up to the face and staring into the eyes of your best friend. “What are you? What was that? What happened? Am I hallucinating?” 

“Slow down, slow down. It’s okay. Breathe.” His voice is soothing and melodic, but firm enough to make you listen. Your mind stops spiraling and the lightheaded feeling fades away, leaving you startled and scrambling for a coherent thought. 

“Why?” You sit up quickly, letting his hands fall from your face. “What are you? What have you been hiding from me?”

“I can explain everything, but I need to be sure you’re okay first. Please.” His voice matches his eyes in desperation, pleading with you to prove that your unharmed and stable. 

“I’m fine, I’m fine. What did I just see?” Your eyes bore into his, matching his gaze until he looks away, staring out at the trees. You adjust your position, turning your body to face his. “What are you?”

The world seems to slow as you wait for a response from him, watching his profile and listening to the birds chirping from the treetops. Jongho sighs. “Promise me you won’t tell anyone. I want to tell you about who I am - who I truly am - but I need you to promise me, as my best friend, that you won’t tell a single person about anything we discuss.”

“Why not?”

“It would put me in a lot of danger and I don’t know what people would do to me. They would want answers. Any and all answers they could get from me, even if it kills me and I don’t want that. So please, I’m begging you, don’t tell anyone. I hate to put you in this position, but I never meant for you to find out for this reason; I didn’t want you to have the responsibility of hiding my secret.”

His eyes dart back and forth, his hands circling one another relentlessly, and for a moment, he’s your best friend and nothing more. He’s your dorky, quiet best friend that always puts others before himself. But now he’s begging you to let him put his life first and you couldn’t imagine a world where you deny him of that. 

You nod mindlessly. Seconds pass before you open your mouth, silence lingering between the two of you before you whisper, “Of course. I’m your best friend first and I’m here to look out for you. You’ve always done the same for me.”

His eyes are glassy as they stare into yours and you manage to hold back your tears, thinking about what he’s going through right now. He’s about to put all of his trust in the best friend he confessed to not even an hour before, knowing full well that you don’t feel the same. But to him, that doesn’t matter because he loves with more intensity and passion than anyone you’ve ever met before. He’s the most amazing person you’ve ever known and suddenly you’re hit with all the love and admiration you have for your best friend. Even if you can’t return the feelings he has for you, you want nothing more than to support him through everything.

Before you’re fully aware of your actions, you throw your arms around Jongho’s neck, catching him off guard and knocking him onto his butt. His hands grip your waist to keep you steady before sliding around you and squeezing you back. You press your face against his neck, inhaling his familiar scent and feeling his pulse race beneath your skin. 

“Jongho, I want you to know that I will support you no matter what and I will never judge you. I love you so much and I want you to know that you can trust me. I won’t tell anyone what you tell me or about what I saw. You’re safe.” Your lips brush against his skin with every word and goosebumps appear on his skin.

He’s silent for a moment before you feel him take a deep breath, exhaling his next words, “I’m a shapeshifter.”

Silence. The world falls into complete, serene silence, giving you two a moment to just be. Be with one another and be vulnerable. 

His body is trembling slightly and you squeeze him tighter, running your hand up to rub his neck - something you do when he needs help relaxing. As usual, it seems to calm him down and his body loses some of the tension, relaxing against yours. 

“You’re still my best friend and I won’t view you any different. This is a way for me to know you for who you really are and for me to be grateful that you chose to be honest and open with me, even if this was all an accident.” You can feel tears on your shoulder where his eyes are pressed against your shirt and you place a small kiss against his skin, no longer caring about the repercussions.

You notice movement within the treeline and you watch for a few seconds noticing eyes peeking around a tree trunk. Jongho hears you inhale sharply, moving to pull away, but the person shifts to hide and you squeeze Jongho closer to you.

“There’s someone hiding in the trees and I don’t know how long they’ve been there. They’re watching us,” you whisper beside his ear, letting your hair cover some of your face while keeping an eye on the person. 

“If they saw me we need to leave; they might be a threat.” He stands up slowly, taking your hands in his and pulling you with him. He dusts off your pants carefully, taking his time with each of his movements. 

The person is moving around behind the tree and you catch a glimpse of his face before he hides again. Sirens begin wailing not far from where you are, probably within the confines of the large park. It’s then that you notice the phone in the man’s hand. He knows.

“Jongho, we need to leave now.” You try to remain quiet while expressing how urgent the situation is, but Jongho continues to move slowly. “Jongho, now.”

“If we run away and make a scene we don’t know what they’ll do and if the police are here about me we won’t have many places to run.” He holds your face gently in his hands, leaning down to whisper, “Slowly move backward, but stay right in front of me.”

He turns you around carefully, gripping your arms and carefully leading you toward the trees. Once you’re a few yards away from the clearing, Jongho grabs your hand and starts sprinting through the trees, darting down different paths. You’re not sure why at first, but when you hear footsteps pounding against the Earth a chill runs down your spine.

Jongho navigates through the park expertly, never tripping or slowing down. The footsteps somehow sound like they’re catching up to you and you wish your feet would move faster. You’re huffing more and more as your chest begins to burn from over-exertion and the pounding of your heart from the adrenaline. 

The two of you reach the end of the park and Jongho looks around, searching for the best way to escape. There is a creek straight ahead with a fence behind it, separating the two of you from a busy street. It seems to be the only way to escape, besides the entrance of the park. Jongho continues running forward, releasing your hand before he breaks out into a full sprint, leaping across the small creek and landing on the other side.

You stop just before the ground begins to dip, staring at him as he turns around, looking at you with wide eyes. “Jump! Come on! You need to jump across!”

You immediately turn around jogging far enough that you have time to gain speed before jumping. But the man breaks through the treeline and makes eye contact with you. Your heart rate speeds up - though you’re not sure how that’s possible - and you can hear Jongho shouting at you. With the last bit of strength in your body, you turn around and take off as fast as you can, pushing yourself to your limit. 

The man is following behind you, shouting at you, “Hey! Stop! Stop you freaks!”

Anger boils within you at the sound of the word, but you continue forward gritting your teeth. As soon as you reach the edge of creek you push off, leaping across the creek, but a second after your feet leave the ground the man reaches out to grab you, missing slightly and knocking you off balance. You hit the slant on the other side of the creek, grunting as your body hits the ground roughly and your legs end up in the water.

Jongho reaches down to quickly drag you up onto level ground and as he helps you up your grab a rock, turning around and chucking it across the creek at the man who is running forward to follow the two of you. The rock hits the top of his forehead, ricocheting off as he collapses to the ground, grabbing his head as he shouts in agony.

Jongho glances at the man before looking at you with a dark expression, but you choose to ignore it as he pulls you to the fence, helping you over. He follows close behind, dropping to the ground beside you. The two of you quickly cross the street, easing into the flow of the crowd. You move quickly, staying away from the street as more police cars speed by.

What did that guy say to the police to get this many cars to arrive so soon? He couldn’t have told them that there was a shapeshifter because they wouldn’t believe him… right?

You’re pulled from your thoughts as Jongho pulls you down a small side street, leading you a back way that you’re unfamiliar with, but he seems to know well. There is shouting coming from the main street and you recognize it as the man’s; he’s relentless, apparently. Jongho quickens his pace as you two emerge onto a quieter street. You recognize this street as a way to the dorms and the two of you hurry until you reach the buildings. 

The ride in the elevator up to his floor is quiet and tense, and when you enter his dorm it doesn’t get any better because Jongho immediately begins pacing. “We have to leave.”

“What?”

He walks up to you, grabbing your face in his hands and staring into your eyes. “We need to leave. If the police know, then they won’t stop until they find me.” 

“Why? Why would they even believe some random guy?” Your eyes dart back and forth between his, trying to read him, trying to understand the situation.

“Because they know shapeshifters exist. They found out about my dad when I was younger and they hunted him down to kill him. They didn’t want someone around that they didn’t understand. My mom and I fled and changed our names so they couldn’t find us and I didn’t come back until a few years ago. But people knew about my dad, the police knew, and I’m sure they still do.”

“They’re going to hunt you? Try to kill you?” Your voice breaks at the end as you hold his face, finally letting the tears fall. “I can’t lose you.”

“That’s why we need to leave. We need to leave now, there’s no time to waste because they won’t stop until they find me.”

Silence settles between the two of you as you rest your forehead on his, relishing the last peaceful moment you might have. “Then let’s leave,” you whisper, letting the words linger in the air.

“We’re going to do this together; we stick together.”

“We stick together.”


End file.
